200 years ago, it would take several days, maybe even a week or more, to communicate with somebody in another city or town. With the advent of email, the Internet and next day delivery (assuming no postal strikes!) we’ve now got that down to between instantly and 24 hours. So how have you changed your…
Had a fantastic week this week talking to a couple of clients. First, The Riverside Restaurant in Barnard Castle have now officially grown to twice their original sales, with profits to match! When I said to Andrew what had made the biggest impact, he said no single thing, but a combination of lots of changes…
Recently I’ve been talking to a number of people in business who have got really depressed by the state of the economy. They’re suffering from a bad dose of recession depression. We all have bad days, and it’s OK to feel fed up occasionally, but when it happens most days, you’ve got a problem and…
by Richard Pakey – guest author and member of Chris Cardell VIP Inner Circle marketing club Hi, my name’s Richard Pakey and I’m a member of Chris Cardell’s VIP Inner Circle marketing club. I’m also one of Lee Duncan’s 1-1 coaching clients. I offered to write a blog post for Lee explaining why I decided…
Just out of a meeting with a client who runs a fantastic Sri Lankan restaurant in Balham – it’s called Hop & Spice and serves the most divine curries ever to pass through my lips. In fact, TimeOut magazine voted it 4th out of their top 50 restaurants, so I’m not the only one who…
Winning Ways While sitting quietly at the 2009 annual Business Awards ceremony of the regional newspaper, Philip Mashinchi of Bright Visions Ltd was delighted to hear his name called for Small Business of the Year. At the same time, he felt bad for another business in the room he knew he was up against, The…
Is your business at risk of doing a Woolworths? Last year, Woolworths gave a last gasp for air before sinking beneath the waves of change, after a 100 year history. They were comprehensively beaten on just about every front by Tesco, Sainsbury, Morrisons and Asda. And the writing was on the wall for years before…
Marketing plans don’t need to be complicated. Here’s a simple 5 step marketing basics plan that you can use to get the ball rolling… 1. Build a database of customers – capture their details simply by asking for them. Or you could get creative and capture them in other ways. Perhaps use a feedback card,…
I was in a fabulous restaurant last week, talking to the owner. The food was exceptional and prices reasonable, so it was great value for money. We got chatting about the impact of the recession on his trade. He benchmarks himself against his competitors in the town, but I was curious when he avoided comparison…
When times are tight you want to cut your fixed costs and make the most of your sales opportunities. There are two ways you can cut costs – first, if some part of your business is broken beyond repair, extreme measures may be the solution. In the same way that amputation might be the only…